Service Job. Everyone needs it now!

I work in service management and am challenged to keep GTD implemented. Most of my work is stuff coming at me from customers and staff--all wanting attention at once. Very little is self-directed.

Most of my work involves taking care of (or getting field personnel to take care of) customer needs the same day or next day--very short turn-arounds. 100's of customers each week--open issue, dispatch techs, handle phone issues, close issue, prepare item to be billed, handle disputes, etc....

I find it so hard to use GTD because by the time I put a context on an item (like @agenda) or record it as a call to be made one of two things have happened--one, I got interrupted to take care of the next issue (yes, that quickly), or two--the finding of the item later in it's proper context is slower than just paging back through a notepad (the records/scribbles info as it comes it) and dealing with it that way.

Does anyone find that GTD just doesn't work for their type of work? (Or, and this is maybe very likely, am I just attempting to justify my multiple failed attempts to implement GTD?)

Hi,
I am a Tech support manager myself. I have exactly the same work scenario you described. I have to manage my techs in 2 different countries in different time zones and regularly spend a whole afternoon just answering the phone- not even making calls! I don't think it would be possible for me to function without a continuous implementation of GTD on a minute to minute basis.

I find my projects lists & next action lists a stake in the ground that keeps track of everything I need to be doing, and the mundane that won't die if I don't get to it today.

The way I started (about 15 months ago) was migrate my electronic planners to a totally paper system. The only thing electronic was the calendar.
I got A5 sheets and printed the docs of www.diyplanner.com. I went totally paper for 5 months, till i regrooved the neural patterns.
Then migrated my tasks to a Palm and over the next couple of weeks migrated the project lists.

The key to migrating to electronic systems is to start with what works- paper. Then make one change that has been evaluated before implementation. Stick with that till its a habit. Then the next one. Incremental change will keep the system working.
Took me about 3 months to go totally electronic, but I still have retained my paper capture tools- notebooks, post its and A5 sheets placed strategically.

Bottom line- (and i havent got a total handle on this) Total capture, regular processing and the weekly review.

Comment

You may need to distinguish your personal GTD system from your trouble ticket system... or you may not. If your employer has a working system in place, then you can use it. If not, then you have to think hard about the design of your workflow.

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Hi,
Am wondering if you are in an IT or equipment based environment. The difference is that IT is knowledge based and for equipment based its one more level of detail than IT requires.
I am in instrment service and i've found most IT packages don't provide mw with the level of control required. I wrote a package in MsAccess to deal with it- not ideal as per every IT person I spoke to. But it was the easiest for a non software developer to implement.
Best regards
Alec